Secret Gardens
by Rae of Sorrow
Summary: What happens if the Titans start a garden?
1. Chapter 1

**SECRET GARDENS**

**Hola Chapter 1**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans**

It is early in the evening when the Titans return to the Tower. Robin, Starfire, and Raven collapse on the couch. Terra flops over the coffee table. Beast Boy falls on his back on the floor. Cyborg is checking out the refrigerator.

Robin sighs and says, "Twenty-six days straight of fighting crime. I'm all for protecting the city and I like putting criminals away, but…"

Starfire finishes "…we need a break."

Cyborg suggests, "We could go out for pizza. There's nothing in this fridge."

Terra says, "Let's order in. I don't think I can move from this spot until I eat something."

Beast Boy groans, "I don't think it can get any…"

The others cry out, "Noo! Don't say it!"

"What?" says Beast Boy, "I was just gonna say, it could…"

Terra reaches over and puts her hand over his mouth. She says, "Every time you make a comment like that something 'more' happens."

Beast Boy shakes Terra's hand away. "No it hasn't. I don't remember anything."

Robin says, "Slade's robotic soldiers quadrupled. There were over 250 of them."

Terra adds, "There was a food shortage. We had nothing to eat but plain, boring oatmeal for over a week."

Starfire says, "The machines that pops the corn and cottons the candy would not stop working. It took a whole weekend to clean the tower."

"Every puppy, kitten, bunny or hideously cute baby animal in the city showed up here." Raven says in her monotone voice.

Starfire perks up a little and says, "Oh, they were _**so**_ cute." Raven glares at her.

Starfire giggles nervously. She says, "However, there was an enormous amount of animals and the mess they left was not good or cute."

Cyborg pipes up. "Just about every pipe in the tower burst. That was a month ago but I still don't think I've dried out."

Beast Boy thinks about each of these incidences and says, "It wasn't that bad was it?"

The others shudder and yell, "Yes!"

Beast Boy waves his hands and says, "Ok, ok I won't say it."

Raven says, "Beast Boy, turn off your brain. Don't _**think**_it either."

Robin turns on the TV and starts flipping through the channels. They see several commercials for beautifying the city.

When the pizza comes, there is a flyer for this project to help improve the city. The idea is local "celebrities" would get an empty lot. They could put a garden in, or a park or whatever they wanted to improve the city somehow. Robin thinks this could be interesting. They could help the city and have some quiet time. Beast Boy is very excited; he could grow vegetables.

Terra asks, "Do you even know how to grow anything?"

Beast Boy shakes his head and says, "Nah, how hard could it be?" Terra shrugs her shoulders.

Beast Boy says, "Hey, I know I can plant rutabagas."

Terra questions, "What's a rutabaga?"

This time Beast Boy shrugs his shoulders. He says, "I don't know a vegetable, I guess."

They decide to do it. They would divide the plot six ways. Each Titan can put whatever they want in it. Everyone is excited except Cyborg and Raven. Cyborg doesn't know what to do. Raven says she doesn't do gardening and flowers.

It is decided that the Titans will visit the local garden center in the morning. Most are eager or at least a little excited about the gardens. They go to bed with flowers and gardens on their mind; not something, they would normally be thinking about. However, when is anything ever normal in the T-shaped tower?

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**Adios**


	2. Chapter 2

**SECRET GARDENS**

**Hello Chapter 2**

**Disclaimer: do not own the Titans**

At the garden center, Starfire clasps her hands in front of her. Her eyes shinning like stars, she says, "This is most magnificent. This reminds me of the Royal Dliw Esor Gardens of Tamaran. There were Noollab flowers in nearly every color. The flowers are seven feet tall. The plant itself is about ten feet tall. They attract the strong but delicate Rettub flies. Their colorful wingspan must reach about nine feet.

Beast Boy is confused. He says, "Um, Star, uh Newbly, Nubby, Nubly huh?"

Starfire says, "Noollab flowers. They are somewhat like, um. They resemble the balloons of the hot air that the people of Earth sometimes ride in."

"Hot air balloons?" suggests Terra.

Excited, Starfire says, "Yes, hot air balloons. The hot air balloons remind me of the Noollab flowers. However, we do not ride them. We eat the fruit. Slimy and spicy; it is very delicious."

Beast Boy is trying to picture this in his mind. It's not working. "?"

Starfire says, "We also had these plants that had the smell of meat when they bloomed. However, when the flowers were doing the fading it did not smell very pleasant. I wonder if I would be able to find those here on Earth."

Raven rolls her eyes. She says, "I don't think you'll find anything like that here. Can we just hurry up and get done with this?"

Most of the Titans are looking around the shop and finding some things. Raven's pretty much standing in one spot with her arms crossed. She looks bored and not happy. Cyborg begins o wander around a little. Suddenly he's excited.

"Ooh, well alright, hot pepper," hollers Cyborg. To Raven he says, "You know what that means?"

Raven says, "Uh, no, but I'm almost afraid to ask." Cyborg looks like he really wants Raven to ask him about the peppers. She sighs and says, "Ok, what do hot peppers mean?"

Cyborg cries out, "Hot peppers equal salsa. That's what I'll plant and I'll make some amazing salsa."

Raven rolls her eyes and mutters, "Knock yourself out."

Robin goes over to Raven and says, "You haven't picked anything out. Why not?"

She shrugs and says, "I haven't found anything."

"Have you looked?" wonders Robin.

Raven looks around the room from where she's standing. She says, "I didn't see anything I liked."

Exasperated Robin says, "Raven, we **are** doing this project. Nothing is going to change that. Please just look around. I'm sure you'll find something." She glares at him before rolling her eyes, again.

The shopkeeper comes over to the two teens. She is a very old woman. She doesn't look like she could pick up a daisy let alone the sack of topsoil she's carrying. After setting the bag down, she says, "I didn't mean to overhear but perhaps your friend would like to look at our new collection of 'gothic' plants. I am not sure why we ordered them. So far, no one has really noticed them. I think your friend will possibly like them."

Robin and Raven follow the shopkeeper to a back, forgotten corner of the garden center. There they find many plants with "black" flowers. Most of the flowers aren't black; they're more of a maroon-black or a purple-black. Raven is actually excited about these plants but she doesn't want to let on. In her usual monotone voice she says, "I guess I could pick something here if I have to." Robin smiles to himself, he knows Raven's a little excited.

They have purchased so many plants a truck needs to deliver them to their lot. Their very empty lot. With a big truckload of plants and a vacant lot, they don't really know where to start.

Robin says, "I guess we just start planting."

***Tameranian words:

-Dliw Esor Garden=Wild Rose Garden

-Noollab flower=balloon flower

-Rettub fly=butterfly

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**Thank you. Bye**


	3. Chapter 3

**Secret Gardens**

**Sorry about the mix up for chapter 2. It's fixed now. I had technical difficulties. It wasn't the computer it was me. I was doing that at 3 a.m. Again, sorry about that. And now on with the show.**

**Howdy - Chapter 3**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Titans**

The Titans worked on their gardens for many weeks. There are six different gardens for six different personalities. The paths between each garden allows for easy access. In the end, they all turned out nice. They were proud of their hard work.

The first garden is an "All-American" garden. It has a lush green lawn. Flowers like marigolds, sunflowers, petunias and daisies lined the edge of the grass. It looks like a typical American backyard.

The garden to the right is bursting with color. Nearly every color possibility is in this garden. Hollyhocks, foxglove, hibiscus, hydrangeas, roses, phlox, irises, gerbera daisies, zinnias, snapdragons …this is only a small number of the plants selected. If the plant is colorful and/or whimsical, it is in this very full garden.

Directly behind the colorful garden is one that is simpler. There are some tomatoes, herbs and a selection of hot peppers. It also shows an amazing irrigation system. This system runs through each garden.

To the left of this garden and behind the "All-American" plot is definitely a vegetable garden. There are slightly crooked rows of corn, zucchini, rutabagas, and many soybeans, to make tofu. This garden will produce enough food to last awhile.

Behind this vegetable garden is another simple garden. It is a rock garden. There is a mixture of bonsai trees and cactus plants and succulents.

In the corner, to the right of the rock garden, is a "dark" garden. It's not in the dark but has dark colored plants, deep red-black, purple-black and blue-black. There are also some white plants. Black hollyhocks, Pam's choice foxgloves, sea holly, love-lies-bleeding, and white moonflowers are a few plants that are in this garden. This garden also has roses, deep red ones and white ones.

It surprised each Titan how much they enjoyed gardening. They didn't love every moment of it, but there were moments that were kind of fun. Even though they had some fun, they begin to forget about them. Each Titan assumes someone else is looking after the gardens.

Soon the gardens become overgrown and neglected. One day, a lone Titan walks by the gardens. Surprised by the gardens' appearance, the Titan wonders, '_Isn't anyone looking after these. I should just walk away, just forget everything but *sigh* we worked __**so**__ hard on them. Ugh, I guess I should do something even though I have no idea what to do_.' After thinking overnight about how to fix up the gardens Raven decides not to use her powers. She's afraid if she uses her powers on the gardens, she might destroy everything. She can read up on the subject. She thinks, '_People have been gardening for years. It can't be __that __hard.' _Raven spends hours in her room studying gardening.

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**See ya later**


	4. Chapter 4

**Secret Gardens**

**Kon nichi wa**

**Thank you FelynxTiger for reviewing.**

**Chapter 4**

**Disclaimer: Don't own**

The next day Raven shows up at the gardens. She has on what feels like a vat each of insect repellant and what Beast Boy jokes is sunscreen SPF 1000. She has no thought of were to begin. Donning thick garden gloves, Raven decides to begin pulling weeds. Robin's plot isn't too bad except the grass is getting tall. Glancing over to Starfire's garden, she thinks, '_Did she just grab one of everything at the garden center?'_ Raven decides to do that one last.

After hours of weeding Raven takes a break. She sits in a shaded corner and pulls out of her bag a Thermos of iced herbal tea. It surprises her by how fast it is going. She thought it would take weeks to clean up the gardens. Raven thinks, '_At this rate I might be done by the end of the week.'_ She decides gardening isn't too hard. Later in the afternoon she thinks, '_What was I thinking? This is going to take forever.'_

Raven spends a day weeding each garden, except Starfire's plot. Raven is having trouble telling the difference between the weeds and the flowers. "Augh! Dear Azar, did she pick every plant possible? Everything and nothing looks intentional. I think she just put plants in the ground. I guess it turned out looking ok, but it's awful to weed."

After spending three days weeding in Starfire's garden, Raven is finally done with it. Now she can tackle mowing Robin's yard. She doesn't know how she'll do it; she doesn't have a lawn mower. Raven looks around a little. She surprised to find an old-fashioned reel mower. It works pretty well, except were the grass is tall or thick or too wet or too dry. It's strange that the grass would be too wet because it hasn't rained in days and the irrigation system isn't working. Raven is kidding herself; the mower only works in two areas. Frustrated she cries out, "Stupid grass. Stupid mower. Stupid sun. Stupid rain. Stupid growing. Ugh, you want to look like your owners hair, spiky and messy! Fine. I don't care!" She decides to try again after lunch. Things are a little better until she hits a stick and the mower jams, ramming the handle into Raven's stomach. "Ow!" she cries out, "Stupid piece of …"

"Raven?" interrupts Cyborg. "What are you doing here?"

Sarcastically she says, "I'm enjoying a day at the beach. What does it look like I'm doing?"

Cyborg looks over his friend. He doesn't think he's ever seen her like this. Her hair is pulled back in a messy ponytail. She's wearing a T-shirt, jeans and sneakers. He knows he's never seen his teammate like this. He starts to speak, "Uh, well, …"

Raven sighs and says, "Sorry." She rubs her neck and shoulders. She continues, "I'm frustrated, tired and hot. Gross, I'm sweating and, *sniff* ew, I think I smell. *sigh* I need a shower."

Cyborg, not thinking, nods his head and says, "Yeah, ya do kinda smell." She glares at him. He says, "Oh, um, uh, so what **are** you doing?"

She says flatly, "Mowing."

"Ah, ok, but why?" he says.

"No one else was doing it.," she says. "Every one forgot about the gardens once they were done."

Cyborg rubs his head sheepishly. He says, "I guess we did. I think we all kinda thought someone else was taking care of them."

"Yeah, me," says Raven.

Cyborg says, "No one said you had to do this. Take care of the gardens."

Stubbornly, Raven says, "We worked hard to make these gardens. Once I found them like this, I couldn't just let them shrivel up. I had to try."

Cyborg looks around. Things look good. Some plants are a little wilted, but once his irrigation system comes on that will be fixed. He eyes the lawn in Robin's garden. It's choppy in most places. He says, "Um, Rae, uh, Robin's…"

"I know, I know," she says, "it looks awful. I've tried mowing it twice. This is the best I can get it."

Cyborg laughs and says, "It kind of reminds me of Robin's hair."

Raven chuckles softly. "That's kind of what I was thinking. It's like Robin on a bad day."

"Want me to help? I'm sure I could mow this little bit of grass in no time." Raven glares at Cyborg before nodding her head yes. His arm switches to a weed-whacker type of machine. Raven stares amazed as Cyborg mows the grass. He has done with the whole yard in the time it would have taken her to do a third of it.

Plants continue to dry out and wilt. Raven's frustrated, "Why is this happening? Shouldn't your irrigation system be running by now? Maybe it's broken?"

Cyborg says, "It couldn't be broken. Did you turn it on?"

"Gee, I never would have thought of that," says a cranky Raven. "Yes, I turned the system on before you showed up. Well, at least Terra's cacti are happy."

"Uh, Rae…" says Cyborg, cautiously.

"What?" She turns to see the cacti are also withering up. "No. Great." She rolls her eyes and says, "I can't even keep a cactus alive. I'm not growing a garden; I'm growing a waist land."

Cyborg checks out his irrigation system. It did have a piece out of place. He fixes it and it works just fine. Soon the plants begin to look a little better. Not great, but better. They decide to go home. They'll see how things are doing tomorrow.

**Sayonara**

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	5. Chapter 5

**Secret Gardens**

**Guten tag**

**Thanks again, FelynxTiger for reviewing. I hadn't really thought of Raven and Cyborg acting as they did in 'Car Trouble'. I guess they do; that's cool.**

**Hello! …hello! …hello (echoing) Is there anybody else out there? …there? …there (echoing) Hmm, I don't know, oh well. :-/**

**Chapter 5**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them.**

When they return the next day, everything has improved. The plants are all standing up, the flowers are blooming and the colors are bright. As they look at the gardens, Cyborg pats Raven on the back. He says, "Ya did a good job." She starts to protest when the others show up.

The others look around the gardens. They all start talking at once. "Wow! The gardens look great." "Look at all the flowers." "The colors are amazing." "It's surprising they look this good after so many weeks." "Cyborg, did you keep the gardens looking so good?"

Cyborg shakes his head and says, "Naw, I helped some but Rae did most of it."

"Raven?" Everyone turns to Raven. They finally realize she is dressed for gardening. "_You_ did this?

Raven rolls her eyes. "What? I can't try something different. Everyone else forgot about them. When I discovered them neglected, I couldn't ignore them.

Everyone except Cyborg says oops.

"Yeah, oops." says Raven as she rolls her eyes.

Robin says, "Will you forgive us?"

Raven says, "I always do." They all look at her. Each thinks back to a time when they were on Raven's bad side. She can sense what they are thinking. "Well, I usually do. Most of the time. Eventually. Ok, I forgive you." Everyone breaks into a smile. She grumbles, "Keep track of your own garden. If this happens again I'm not helping."

Starfire claps her hands. "Oh, thank you dear friend. We are most appreciative that you have saved our attempts for the beautification of the city." She hugs Raven.

Raven tries to push her away. "Star, enough with the hugs. All I did was pull some weeds. Actually, I pulled _a lot _of weeds."

Beast Boy cries out, "You didn't hurt the rutabagas did you?"

Raven says dryly, "No, not yet."

"Man," says Cyborg, "What's with your fascination with rutabagas?"

Beast Boy shrugs. "I don't know. I guess I like the name. They sound like they would be zombie vegetables. Rooo-taa-baaa-gaaas." He makes a face as he draws out the word. Starfire and Terra giggle. Raven, Cyborg and Robin roll their eyes at the same time. This causes Terra to laugh harder.

Robin says, "Seriously, thank you. We should have known better than to let them get neglected."

They look around the gardens, admiring them. "O-o-ohh," says Starfire, "look at the glorious morning flowers. They are all over the vine. I will add them to my bouquet."

"Uh, Star, you mean the morning glories? I don't know if they'll last in a bouquet."

"Is that not what I said? Oh well. I am going to try them anyway. If they only last one day; then they will be pretty for one day. Oooh, maybe I will plant some on the outside of my room. That way I will always have a glorious morning."

"I guess that would work, Star. Let's check out what's over there." Terra grabs Starfire's hand and leads her to a different area. Everyone is checking out different parts of the gardens. Little by little, they notice a strange smell. "What is that?" Suddenly, the smell intensifies and becomes worse. They all cover their noses. "What is that smell?"

Raven says, "It smells like …"

"… like something died." finishes Cyborg.

Raven says, "I was going to say it smells like Beast Boy's socks, but yeah that works too."

Beast Boy uncovers his nose to protest. "Hey, they're not that bad." He starts having a coughing fit because of the smell.

Cyborg is able to pinpoint the source of the smell. It's coming from Starfire's section. They all carefully go over to it. Everyone is ready to attack if needed. With her nose still covered, Starfire starts jumping up and down. "It bloomed. Yeah, it bloomed. It is smaller that the Tameranian plant however it has the same smell."

"What _is_ that?" says Terra pointing to a strange looking plant. The plant is medium-sized. It has several flowers that look like they are from another planet. They are four or five inches across, dark pinky-red with white-ish spots. It has five fleshy petals and an opening in the center. It looks like if you got too close it might take a bite. It looks and smells like rotting meat.

"Oh, that?" says Starfire, "That is my meat flower. Does it not have the strange mix of the beauty and the disgust?"

Raven says, "You actually found one and got it to grow here, in Jump City?" She shakes her head in amazement and annoyance.

"Um, Star, I'm glad you got your plant to bloom, but, um, it's not, uh, helping the other plants." says Robin. He point out that the other plants are wilting. Some of them seem to be moving away from the meat flower.

Starfire looks distraught. "Oh, no. I did not wish for this to happen. I only wanted something that reminded me of Tamaran. *sigh* I guess it must go to protect the other flowers. I am sorry. Good-bye my beautifully ugly flower." She powers up her star bolts.

"Star, wait." says Raven, "maybe you can keep it. Maybe I could take the smell away."

Starfire claps her hands and says, "Wonderful! You could really do that?" She quickly covers her nose and flies above the city. She's gasping for fresh air.

When she returns to the ground Raven is engulfing the plant with her magic. Leaving the plant intact Raven sends the awful smell into space. Everyone cautiously uncovers their noses. They smell nothing bad. They take a deep breath of fresh air. The flowers are also perking up.

"Amazingly magnificent" says Starfire. Starfire grabs Raven into another one of her trademark bear hug. "I did not know you enjoyed the gardening hobby."

Raven pulls free from the hug. "Ugh, I don't 'enjoy' it. I only did what I had to." The others start to tease Raven. "I can bring _that_ smell back." she threatens. They throw their hand up to surrender. Soon other people come by to enjoy their gardens.

They decide maybe they'll do this again and donate the extra food they grow. Returning to the tower after a long, strange day, they discuss what they might do. Beast Boy asks, "Hey, Star, do you know of a plant that will feed a lot but doesn't take a lot of work?"

Cyborg, Raven and Robin say, "No! Let's stick with plants from earth."

Cyborg adds, "We can barely handle earthly plants."

Beast Boy says, "See, it wasn't _that_ bad."

Everyone rolls their eyes at the same time. "Ugh, Beast Boy!"

**Danke**

**Hope you enjoyed this. Please read and review.**

**Gracias, Thank you, Thanks, Arigato, Danke**

**}-`-;-**


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